Stray Shoes and Coffee Machines
by Jooles34
Summary: Lester knows he has to end things, but then it all goes horribly wrong. M/M relationship, nothing of an explicit nature. Set during season three and includes spoilers for that season.


AN – This was written for the prompt "This is the day when it all ended"  
Apologies, but I have used dramatic licence in the treatment of injuries here to move things along.

This is the day when it all ended. It shouldn't even have begun; it certainly shouldn't have continued, but today was the day it ended. He would see to that.

A shrill alarm cut into Lester's thoughts and he left his office to look over the balcony onto the main ARC control room.

"We've got a new anomaly!" Connor shouted, completely unnecessarily.

"Yes Connor, thank you. We had noticed."

Connor looked up at him and smiled. Lester quickly looked away, using the pretence of Danny entering the room as an excuse to avert his gaze. He couldn't look into those trusting eyes knowing what was to come.

"A little more information please Connor." Danny called as he approached.

Connor turned back to his screen. "It's Docklands." His fingers raced over the keyboard controls, calling up more information, letting the system work and zone in while he brought up detailed maps and satellite images. "Looks like an area of disused land next to a new development. Lot of construction crews on site."

"We'd better get a move on then," said Becker at his shoulder, "let's go."

Lester watched as his team headed towards the garage. He'd never tell them, but he was proud of them. They worked like a well oiled machine. Banter and laughter disguised the pain he knew they all still felt on a daily basis, but they had picked up where Cutter had left off and accepted the new team members easily into their working lives. Connor especially had thrown himself into it all with renewed vigour. He had worked himself almost to the point of exhaustion to complete Cutter's work until Lester had stepped in and forced him to take time out.

Connor was changing in other ways too. No longer the follower, he was showing real signs of leadership skills, of being able to handle difficult situations, make difficult decisions. Lester sighed. He knew the real Connor though. He knew the lost little boy who had followed Cutter here all that time ago was still there under the surface. Eager, looking for attention, searching for affection.

Heading back into his office he sighed again. This was not going to be easy.

A couple of hours later Lester was pacing his office and glancing at his watch. He should have had a situation report by now. The last he had heard they were sending a probe into the anomaly and scouting the area to make sure that nothing had come through. He should have had an update by now. He glanced at his watch again.

His phone chirped. Lester grabbed it and pulled it to his ear. Sarah's voice sounded panicked in his ear.

"We're on our way back to the ARC. Get the medical team on standby. Connor's been hurt."

"Hurt? How badly? By what?"

"Just get the team ready. He doesn't look good. We'll be there in ten."

Lester looked at the phone, now silent in his hand, for a second, trying to process what he had just been told. Then he ran from his office and down into the control room, shouting as he moved.

"Get the medical team down to the garage now. I want them ready and waiting with a trolley and equipment. Get everything ready in the medical rooms. Anything and everything. We're taking no chances."

He watched as people ran from the room to deliver his orders. No one questioned him, no-one hesitated. No-one stayed to see if he was okay. He cast a look around the room, his eyes settling momentarily on the predictor, Connor's predictor, before he headed down to the garages.

The first big SUV swung into the garage and the back door was flung open as Becker leapt out of the front seat. Two medics rushed to the back door and helped Becker pull an unconscious Connor out of Abby's grasp. Danny ran around the car and stood next to Lester as they watched his limp body being manhandled onto a trolley.

Lester didn't look up as the second SUV pulled in behind them and Sarah jumped out, rushing over to join them. He remained quiet as Connor was strapped down by one medic while the other opened Connor's airway with a tube and fixed an oxygen mask over his face. An IV line was slid into the vein on the back of Connor's hand as the two medics visually assessed his injuries.

"Someone come with us to give us a full report." barked one of the medics as they pushed the trolley out of the garage. Becker followed.

Lester turned his attention to the rest of the team, including Abby who had now crept from the car.

"Well?"

Danny was the only one who could meet his eye.

"We didn't see it coming. It was just suddenly there, heading straight for Sarah. The tranqs we had just bounced off and Connor…"

"Connor jumped in front of me." Sarah interrupted. "He saved my life." she finished, turning her gaze towards Lester.

"Where is the creature now? Did you capture it or do I have to worry about a herd of stampeding somethings halving the number of workmen in London and making building work even more expensive?"

"The body's being guarded by two of Becker's men until we can get a truck back to it. The big gun worked. There were no other casualties." Danny told him.

"Well that's alright then isn't it?" Lester snapped before turning on his heel and stalking away.

Lester's pace slowed as he approached the medical rooms. He took a deep breath as he pushed open the door and walked inside. He kept his eyes away from the glass that separated him from the treatment room where Connor lay surrounded by medical staff and machines, and focused on a doctor examining a monitor screen.

"Well?" he demanded, none too kindly.

"He's got a head injury, a couple of broken ribs and a fractured arm. He lost a fair amount of blood and was unconscious for a while, but he's come around now. He's stable and I can't see any major swelling on the brain or internal bleeding. He's got a nasty concussion, and he'll be sore for a while, but should be fine."

"Can he leave?"

"Not on his own. He needs to be kept off his feet for forty-eight hours and not left on his own. He'll need monitoring."

"Fine. Arrange for him to be taken to my apartment. I'll make sure there's someone with him."

With that Lester turned and walked back to his office, taking what felt like his first breath in half an hour.

Lester was home by the time the ARC medics arrived with Connor.

"Put him in there." he instructed, pointing to Connor's room before walking to the living room to avoid seeing anymore. He heard muffled voices and sounds of movement as he paced, arms folded across his body.

The medical staff filed quietly out of his flat, but the doctor hovered at the bedroom door. Huffing Lester went to join him. He looked into the room. It was still Connor's room, but it had been a while since the young man had slept in there.

"He's still unconscious."

"No, just sleeping. He'll need a lot of rest. You said you had someone coming to take care of him?"

"What? Oh, yes. They'll be here soon." Lester recovered quickly and managed to lie smoothly.

"We'll be off then."

As the doctor left Lester stalked into the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. Connor had done something to his coffee maker so it now produced a cup of steaming hot coffee in seconds. It was so convenient that he hadn't even shouted at the young man when the electricity bill came in.

He picked up a dining chair and one of Connor's shoes fell off it. Lester rolled his eyes. Would there ever be a time he didn't find stray articles of Connor's in the strangest of places?

He stared at the shoe, the thought frozen in his mind.

Shaking himself he carried the chair and the coffee through to the bedroom and set them both down next to Connor's bed. Leaving the coffee untouched he sat on the chair and looked at the sleeping man.

His hand moved forward unbidden and curled itself around Connor's. Lester closed his eyes as his pent-up emotions finally started to surface. His mind was full of thoughts of what ifs, what could have beens, power guzzling coffee machines and stray shoes.

"Hey."

Connor's raspy voice dragged him from his thoughts and his eyes shot open. Connor smiled at him.

Lester wanted to shout. He wanted to bawl the silly young man out for getting himself hurt, for putting his life on the line, for making him worry. But they weren't the words that came out.

"I thought I'd lost you."

"I thought I'd lost me too for a minute there." Connor's voice was husky, like his throat was dry. Lester went to stand up.

"I'll get you a glass of water." he said, welcoming the excuse to flee the room.

"No. Wait. Please." Connor's hand tightened on his.

Lester sat back in the chair as Connor continued to look at him.

"What?" Lester asked finally.

"I'm glad you're here. I mean I'm glad that it's you that's here. You know, when I woke up."

Lester took a deep breath, his eyes flitting away from the intensity of the honest, open, brown eyes staring at him. He looked back.

"So am I." he finally replied.

A smile brightened Connor's face and his eyes closed. Lester remained still as he watched sleep claim the young man again.

He had been wrong. This wasn't the day when it all ended. This was the day when it really began.


End file.
